Zoho Finance Plus' sees good adoption from SMEs, to set up data centers in India - 24th May 2018

NEW DELHI: Spurred by GST, Zoho on Wednesday said its Finance Plus platform has seen ‘phenomenal growth’ with India being the fastest growing market for the company across world.

The company is also expected to bolster its services in the country and set up two data centers in India – the primary one in Mumbai and a secondary one in Chennai.

Finance Plus as a platform offers an end-to-end integrated platform, giving businesses visibility into their order and fulfilment process, zero accounting errors and a hassle-free tax period.

“The proliferation of smartphones, broadband connectivity and upcoming GST regimen is a great opportunity for businesses to move their accounting and other operations online,” said Sivaramakrishnan Iswaran, Director of Product Management, Zoho, in a statement.

Zoho launched its GST-compliant finance suite, Zoho Finance Plus in April 2017, prior to the official GST roll-out in India by the Government. Zoho Finance Plus offers an end-to-end integrated cloud platform for businesses to manage their finances and operations, including filing of GST returns.

“With Zoho Finance Plus, businesses get an interface to manage their transactions day to day and file their GST returns, all from a single platform. Zoho Finance Plus simplifies returns filing for businesses and increases compliance,” he added in the statement.

Business will need a comprehensive interconnected suite of financial apps that talk to each other and share data seamlessly. Zoho Finance Plus claims to connect different departments of a business and give business owners access to real-time information for faster decision making. It also organises all transactions, which can be filed with the GST portal at the click of a button.

Zoho Finance Plus suite includes Zoho Books, an accounting and invoicing software for forward-thinking businesses; Zoho Invoice, an invoicing software for freelancers or businesses to get paid on time; Zoho Expense, an expense reporting solution tailor-made for businesses to automate their employee expense reimbursements; Zoho Subscriptions, a solution for subscription-based businesses to automate their recurring billing; Zoho Inventory, an order management and fulfilment solution for retailers in India.

Zoho Finance apps are built from the ground up with the same database. Transactions created in one app are made available contextually in the other apps. Business will also be able to generate GST-compliant invoices, and taxes will be captured on every transaction. Zoho Books will generate the monthly returns automatically, and they can be filed with a click of a button. Zoho Expense streamlines expense reporting for employees.

Pricing and availability

Zoho Finance Plus is available for Rs.2, 999 per organisation per month, which includes 10 users. Businesses that previously subscribed to multiple Zoho Finance apps can now purchase a single license for Zoho Finance Plus instead.

In a statement, Sivaramakrishnan Iswaran, Director, Product Management and Business Development, Zoho said, “Being a GSP ourselves helps in cost optimization and providing a great experience for our business users. Furthermore, we will leverage our in-depth expertise in developing platforms and ecosystems to support a thriving community of Application Service Providers (ASP) connecting to GSTN through us.”

Zoho has also partnered with ICICI and Standard Chartered Bank, to deliver a streamlined digital banking experience to customers using Zoho's cloud accounting software, 'Zoho Books'.